SEATTLE — On April 30, 2023, a college student named Jackson Yelle was killed by a hit and run driver in South Carolina.
Jackson was a business student at Elon University, where he also played club baseball.
Jackson and his father had a shared love of baseball and had planned to visit all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums. Together, they had visited 12 of the 30 stadiums before Jackson's tragic passing.
This season, his father Scott is honoring Jackson by visiting the remaining 18 major league parks. It's an effort to raise funds for the Jackson Yelle Family Foundation and MLB's Nike Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) program.
"Jackson had a zest for life and baseball. I can't think of a better way to honor him than by finishing our tour of all 30 MLB stadiums and helping other young men and women grow through the game he loved, baseball," Yelle said.
Scott makes his first visit to Seattle and to T-Mobile Park on May 13.
He is challenging 100 Mariners fans to visit the foundation's website and donate $10 each. The funds will go to the Mariners Nike RBI program on top of the $1,000 the foundation is already donating.
The Mariners RBI program has been given the honor of hosting the RBI West Regional Baseball and Softball tournament. The winners of this tournament will represent the West Coast at the Nike RBI World Series in Florida this summer.
Coincidentally, Mariners pitcher George Kirby is slated to start in Monday's game against the Kansas City Royals. Yelle says Kirby is the only active MLB player who graduated from Elon University, where Jackson was a student.
Seattle is stadium #21 of 30 and the first on Yelle's West Coast swing to visit 4 parks. The stadium tour ends on June 9th in Detroit.
Segment Producer Rebecca Perry. Watch New Day Northwest 11 a.m. weekdays on KING 5 and streaming live on KING5.com. Contact New Day.